The Business of Borders: The Economy of Virtue

 Kevin Cohen discusses how Western governments have turned migration management into a costly, taxpayer-funded endeavor, illustrating the financial implications and policies surrounding asylum seekers in various countries.

• High Costs of Asylum Accommodation: In the UK, the government spends approximately £145 per night per asylum seeker, which is six times the cost of standard housing. This has led to taxpayers funding nearly £8 million daily for asylum accommodation, and the National Audit Office has labeled this scheme as "unsustainable. "

• Profits for Contractors: The main contractors involved in managing asylum accommodations, including Serco, Mears, and Clearsprings, accrued significant profits totaling around £383 million from 2019 to 2024, while the government recouped little in penalties. The costs of asylum support tripled since 2019, reaching an estimated £3 billion in a recent year.

• European Migration Policy and Funding: The EU's Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) has a budget of €9.9 billion for 2021-2027, incentivizing countries to accommodate more migrants. This encourages activity rather than deterrence, where new arrivals lead to increased claims for budget support.

• Ireland's Approach: Ireland has created a national AMIF program with €63.5 million budgeted, where specific projects receive reimbursements for integration efforts. This shows how migration is monetized.

• Role of Frontex: Europe’s border force, Frontex, consumes over €750 million annually, primarily going to private contractors for surveillance and support. A Europe-wide inquiry highlighted pay disparities for interpreters involved in Frontex missions, indicating profit motives within humanitarian efforts.

• Canadian Migration Costs: Similar to Europe, Canada has built a financial dependency on asylum management, spending approximately C$1.4 billion in 2023 on temporary housing for asylum seekers.

• Flawed Measurement of Success: The article critiques how success in migration management is measured by the amount of money spent rather than by actual integration of migrants. Even the European Court of Auditors noted that many programs lack clear performance indicators.

• Cycle of Financial Dependency: Governments are trapped in a cycle where each closure of migrant centers leads to revenue losses, perpetuating urgency for another crisis to maintain funding. The migration infrastructure has become a financial entity rather than a humanitarian operation.

The article concludes that the Western approach to borders and migration has shifted from viewing them as moral challenges to treating them as economic opportunities. As such, the system remains in a constant state of need for more funding, making it less effective in achieving meaningful outcomes for migrants. The “Vacancy” sign in a Kent hotel remains illuminated, symbolizing an unending cycle of funding and failure in migration management, reducing compassion to a commercial enterprise. The migration policy has become more of an economy than a humanitarian agenda.

https://spectator.org/the-business-of-borders-the-economy-of-virtue/